GTA IV gets 16-player online?

Rockstar has suggested that the fourth instalment of its gangland series will support up to 16 of you online.

Word apparently came from a representative for the developer at a PlayStation Holiday Preview Event in Toronto, where Canadian site GamingExcellence (well spotted, Gamespot) was on hand to digest the news.

"The developers were considering the possibility of having an openworld completely unlocked from the start of the game," said the mysterious representative in what we imagine was a thick eastern European accent.

"[Rockstar] is aiming for at least 16 simultaneous players, with more than just usual deathmatch mode."

It is far from concrete, with Rockstar representatives elsewhere refusing to comment on "rumour and speculation". However, we do know that the developer has ambitious online plans this time around, and so far has only quashed rumblings that it will be delivering an MMOG-style option.

It would not be the first Grand Theft Auto game to let you blow each other up online, either, having previously appeared in the "Stories" games on PSP and in the PC version of GTA II.

Perhaps it is among one of the reasons Rockstar pushed the game's launch back from this month to sometime after February next year.